The Riveras Episode 3 - September: Just Thinking About Tomorrow
by J-R Virtual Seasons
Summary: September 1999: It's Kevin's first day at junior high, and he isn't finding things easy. Meanwhile, Eduardo starts his final year of college, Carl contemplates a change of direction and Beth takes up sewing.
1. Chapter 1

Carl was patrolling the streets on his police motorcycle when it was just getting light. He was on a small road, where there was not much traffic, when he became displeased with a car that took a right turn just as they were about to meet. It made the turning too quickly, and didn't indicate. Carl frowned. The motorcycle stopped, turned and made off after the car with an aggressive roar.

Once Carl was behind the car and making his intentions known, the driver pulled over without any trouble. They were driving up an otherwise deserted street on a slight incline. Frowning deeply, the driver opened his window and awaited his ordeal. Carl dismounted from the motorcycle, took off his helmet and approached the car at a dignified pace, his face full of authority. He leaned down to address the driver through the window.

'Do you always drive round corners –? Oh, shoot!'

Carl disappeared from the car window and shot off in pursuit of his motorcycle, which was now rolling down the hill at a brisk pace. He caught up with it just in time to grab the handlebars before it ran into an oncoming car in the street he had just left. The driver was alert, and had slowed down enough to frown at Carl before continuing on her way.

* * *

Beth and Kevin were in Beth's car, behind a long line of traffic, at the front of which a lot of teenagers and adolescents were exiting the vehicles.

'I can get out here, Mom,' said Kevin.

'Are you sure, honey?' asked Beth.

'It's only just down the street. I'll be fine.'

'Okay, sweetheart. Do you have everything? Lunch money? Pencil box? Summer project?'

'Yes, Mom. I'll see you later.'

Beth smiled at him. 'Bye, honey. Good luck.'

Kevin got out of the car, slung his bag onto his shoulder and made his way slowly up the street towards the junior high school. Once at the gates, he paused to take a deep breath, which he hadn't let out by the time he was knocked sideways by two girls who ran in shrieking with their ponytails and bags flying behind them. The quad was filled with kids, most of them older and bigger than Kevin, and all of them seemed to be very comfortable standing there with a group of friends.

'Seventh grade students this way!' a female voice called, and Kevin turned to see a smartly-dressed girl and a smartly-dressed boy ushering smaller students past them, towards a custom-made signpost that read _Auditorium_ – _7_ _th_ _Grade_.

'Seventh grade?' the boy asked, when Kevin approached him.

'Yeah,' said Kevin.

'Go wait in the auditorium,' said the boy, who had acne and glasses and a sticky label on his jacket that said his name was Martin. 'When school starts, the principal will talk to you all and then you'll get sent to class with your homeroom teacher.'

'Thanks, Martin,' said Kevin.

'Good luck,' said the girl, smiling at him and showing her braces. Kevin glanced at her name label.

'Thanks, Phoebe,' he said, and scuttled off towards the auditorium.

When he arrived, his way was blocked by a young female teacher holding a clipboard, and a girl wearing green combat trousers and a crop top. Kevin stopped dead in his tracks, wondering how to get around them.

'What's your name?' the teacher was asking.

'Ella,' the girl said defiantly.

'Ella what?'

'Ella Williams.'

'Well, Ella Williams,' said the teacher, 'you don't need me to tell you that what you're wearing is completely inappropriate for school. You'll have to go home and get changed.'

'You can't make me,' said Ella.

'Well, you can't come to school dressed like that.'

'Well, I think you'll find I have.'

'Um... excuse me,' said Kevin, raising his hand timidly as though he were in class. 'I don't think it's a good idea to send her home unsupervised. You could get in trouble if anything happened to her, or she went someplace she wasn't supposed to.'

The teacher looked at him and raised her eyebrows. 'And your name is...?'

'Kevin Rivera, ma'am.'

'Kevin Rivera...' muttered the teacher, looking at her clipboard, then making a mark on a sheet of paper. 'It's great to meet you, Kevin. I'm Miss Ortega. You're in my homeroom. You can go on in. All right, Ella.' She turned back to the girl. 'Go to the office and get Mrs Lang to call your parents to bring you something else to wear.'

'No,' said the girl.

Miss Ortega took a deep breath. 'Ella...'

'Um, excuse me,' said Kevin, pausing halfway through the door to the auditorium. 'How about if I just lend Ella my jacket for today?'

Miss Ortega considered for a moment. She looked at Kevin's timid expression as he held his weight against the heavy door, and then at Ella's defiant glare and folded arms.

'Thank you, Kevin,' Miss Ortega said at last. 'That will do for today. I'm going to write you a note, Ella, so you can show it to anyone who challenges you on your pants.'

'What's wrong with my pants?' said Ella.

'They're very garish. Please take a look at the dress code when you go home this afternoon, and make sure you find something appropriate to wear tomorrow, and every day you're here after that. If you don't, I'll call your parents myself. Is that understood?'

'Yes, Miss Ortega,' chanted Ella, taking the weight of the door as Kevin took off his jacket. Then she shoved him through as he was handing it to her, and said, 'Teacher's pet.'

Kevin turned and frowned at her. 'If you feel _that_ way, I'll take my jacket back and you can go get Mrs Lang to call your parents.'

'Oh, don't be so touchy,' said Ella, grinning at Kevin as she zipped up his jacket. 'I was just kidding. Seriously, man, thanks. I owe you one.'

'Um, no problem,' said Kevin, as Ella strode confidently into the midst of the waiting new students.

* * *

Beth was sewing a seam on a pair of Kevin's trousers when Carl came home. He was looking distinctly unhappy as he flopped into an armchair, put down the sheaf of papers he was carrying and let out a loud exhalation.

'Hi, hon,' said Beth, smiling pleasantly at him. 'Do you want me to get you anything?'

'No, that's okay, you're busy,' said Carl.

'Not for long,' said Beth. 'Apart from this pair of pants, everyone's clothing seems to be in pretty good shape. Actually, I was thinking of trying this pattern I found in the bottom of the sewing basket. It's for a shirt or something... could be fun.'

'I guess it could be if you like that kind of thing,' said Carl.

'So how was your night, hon?'

'Terrible. I don't wanna talk about it.'

'Oh, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?'

'No, honey, don't worry about it,' said Carl. 'Did Kevin get into school okay?'

'He got in, yes,' said Beth. 'I don't know what happened after that. I hope he's okay.'

'He'll be fine. It's just school. I mean hell, I'd rather be there than chasing faulty tail lights on that stupid motorcycle.'

'I'm sure Kevin would switch places with you in a heartbeat.'

'I guess so,' said Carl. 'But y'know, I've been thinking. Maybe it's time for a change. I mean, when I compare myself to my father... everything he did to make this city a better place... and I'm just enforcing a few petty traffic laws...'

'There's nothing wrong with working in traffic, honey,' said Beth, as she cut off her seam and shook out Kevin's trousers. 'Those laws are important – they're for the safety of everybody. And...'

'What?'

'Well... no one ever got killed working in traffic, did they?'

'Not very often,' said Carl. 'But there's always a risk. I mean, I could meet an armed carjacker, or –'

'Don't!' said Beth. 'I don't want to think about it.'

Carl smiled tenderly at her, then stood up and went to kiss her on the top of her head.

'What was that for?' asked Beth, surprised but touched.

'Do I need a reason?' said Carl. Then suddenly a car door slammed outside and Carl, going to the window, became suddenly brusque again. 'That's Eddie. What's he doing back so soon?'

'Are you sure it's Eduardo?' said Beth. 'He doesn't have a car.'

'It's one of those idiot friends of his,' said Carl, sweeping through the room and picking up his sheaf of papers on the way, so that he was at the front door by the time he'd finished speaking.

'Hey!' Carl barked, once he was outside, and Eduardo stopped halfway up the metal staircase at the side of the house. 'I brought you some fliers.'

'Fliers?' Eduardo said blankly, turning to face his brother.

'Yes,' said Carl, ascending the stairs and thrusting the fliers into Eduardo's hand. 'They're about the police academy.'

Eduardo sighed deeply. 'Carlos...'

'At least just read the damn things, will you? You don't even know anything about it! You can even join before your birthday since the minimum age has come down, and all this college stuff won't be a _complete_ waste of time because you could be... I don't know... a body language expert or something. What's your major, anyway?'

'If you really care,' said Eduardo, 'it's urban studies.'

Carl's face darkened. 'Urban studies? That's not a real subject – what the hell is that?'

'Oh, lots of stuff.'

'Lots of stuff _like_...?'

'Well, I'm taking classes on stuff like inequality, social psychology, law enforcement...'

'Law enforcement?' said Carl, his face brightening.

'Yeah... last year they pretty much taught us how everything the NYPD does is wrong.'

'WHAT? Well, you can just get on the phone and drop any more classes like that right now! What the hell have you even done today, anyway? I thought you were supposed to be on campus this morning!'

'I was,' said Eduardo. 'We didn't do much – just signed some forms and stuff.'

'I knew college was a waste of time,' said Carl. 'And what are you gonna do now, huh? Just sit around watching TV?'

'No,' said Eduardo. 'Roland's driving me to the firehouse. I only came home for a change of clothes.'

'Spent the night at her place, did you?'

'That's not really any of your business, Carlos.'

'Yeah, well, I was just thinking... and I'm not saying this to be unkind or anything, just realistic...'

Eduardo frowned. 'What?'

'These friends of yours,' said Carl, gesturing behind him at Roland's car, then at the world in general. ' _They_ didn't go to college to slack off, did they? They've all got stuff they want to do, including Kylie. No, don't say anything yet – just let me finish. What'll _you_ do, huh, with this... _urban studies_ of yours? You can still change your major to criminal psychology or something, and then you can enrol in the police academy in the summer, and when all your Ghostbuster friends are off doing their own thing you can still make something of yourself.'

'I _am_ making something of myself,' said Eduardo.

'Right – you're making a fool of yourself. What would Dad say, huh?'

Eduardo responded by throwing Carl's fliers into his face, then turning away and disappearing into his apartment, slamming the door behind him. When he came out again, Carl had gone and Roland was picking up police academy fliers from the staircase.

'You don't have to do that, man,' said Eduardo, hastening to pick up the two remaining fliers, but Roland got there first. 'And I'm sorry you had to wait.'

'Don't worry about it,' said Roland. 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me, Roland.'

'Well,' said Roland, as they made their way back to his car, 'I do, sometimes. I mean, the way we saw him threaten you that first time we really met him...'

'Oh, that was nothing – that was just because Kevin was missing,' Eduardo said, buckling his seatbelt. 'Seriously, Roland, just worry about yourself. I'm not the reason you didn't go to Stanford, am I?' he added flippantly.

'No,' said Roland, smiling. 'I'm staying for T'Keyah.'

'Oh, cool,' said Eduardo. 'So does that mean you're staying for good? I mean, she's planning on going to med school in New York, right?'

'Well... yeah, she is.'

'Um... sorry, man,' said Eduardo. 'None of my business.'

'I'm really starting to think I _could_ go to Stanford, you know,' said Roland. 'It's such a good opportunity, and I read another copy of Professor G. Gaubert's book over the summer – one that wasn't haunted – and I understand it a lot better now. But then if T'Keyah's staying here...'

'You don't have to decide right now,' said Eduardo.

'No... not _right_ now.'

'I wonder if Kylie's decided anything yet.'

'If she had,' said Roland, glancing at him, 'you'd have been the first to know, surely.'

'Yeah,' said Eduardo, 'I guess.'

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Kevin's new school, Miss Ortega was now at the front of a class full of students and ticking off their names.

'Mark Warner...'

'Present.'

'...and Ella Williams.'

No reply. Miss Ortega looked up sharply.

'Ella Williams!'

'You already know I'm here,' said Ella.

'Thank you, Ella,' said Miss Ortega, ticking off the last name and closing her register. 'Now, first of all I'd like to collect your summer projects.'

'It was a stupid project!' said a boy in the back row. 'How are we supposed to know anything about real-life heroes?'

'Have you _done_ your project, Michael?' asked Miss Ortega.

'Yeah,' said the boy, producing a single sheet of paper from his bag and dropping it onto his desk.

'Good.' Miss Ortega got to her feet. 'I'll come round and collect them, and while I do, I'd like all of you to take a look at the sheet of paper on your desk. That's a list of all the extracurricular classes you can choose from. Everybody needs to take one this semester.'

'Extracurricular?' somebody moaned.

'I'm afraid so,' said Miss Ortega. 'Wow, Kevin, this is a big one!'

Kevin sank into his chair as Miss Ortega picked up his project, and the boy called Michael threw a spitball at the back of his head. There were a few sniggers from the back row.

'Quiet!' said Miss Ortega. 'All right, since there are twenty of you, we can do the next few things in groups of five.'

'Is it four things?' a girl piped up.

'As it happens, Lucy, we have exactly four things to do in small groups,' said Miss Ortega. 'Five of you are going to go to the library and get registered on the computer system; five of you will figure out your timetable from the chart I'm about to give you, and write it into your planners; five of you will go to the school nurse and make sure she has all your correct information; and five of you will gather around my desk for a little informal Q-and-A. If the timetable group finish, you can come over and join us before we switch. Okay, library group... let's start with Lucy, Kevin, Michael, Catherine and Stephanie. Ah!' as a knock came at the door. 'Perfect timing. Come in!'

The door opened to reveal Martin and Phoebe standing in the corridor.

'Okay, library group go with Martin,' said Miss Ortega. 'The nurse group can go with Phoebe. Let's send Ella, Mark, Alejandro...'

Miss Ortega's voice became inaudible as Kevin followed Martin down the corridor, with four of his contemporaries. Catherine and Stephanie evidently knew each other, as they had linked arms and were hanging behind the rest of the group, talking and giggling quietly together. Lucy stuck close to Martin, and when they had turned a corner, Michael suddenly grabbed Kevin by the shoulder and turned him viciously round.

'Dude, what the hell?' said Kevin.

'I got a question for you, Rivera,' said Michael. 'What's _your_ jacket doing on _my_ girlfriend?'

'Stopping her from getting in trouble,' said Kevin. 'Ella must have told you what happened.'

'Listen. _You_ don't rescue _my_ girlfriend from Miss Ortega or anyone.'

'Dude, seriously,' said Kevin. 'It sounds like you're way too possessive.'

'Oh yeah?' said Michael, shoving him in the chest. Kevin stumbled backwards, but quickly regained his footing, and took a step towards Michael.

'Don't do that, please,' he said.

'Oh my God, you guys, come _on_!' said Catherine, as she and Stephanie barged between the two boys, giggling uncontrollably as they turned the corner.

Kevin hurried after them, and found Martin holding open the library door.

'Thanks, Martin,' said Kevin, following his pointing finger to the computer area, where Catherine and Stephanie were just sitting down with Lucy and five kids from another homeroom. There was a seat between Lucy and a boy Kevin didn't know, so he slid into it before Michael could touch him again.

'Hurry up, all of you!' a small, grey-haired woman barked importantly. 'We don't have all day!'

Kevin looked at the computer monitor in front of him. It wanted a username and password. He looked at Lucy's screen. She had typed _99chanl_ into the username field.

'It's ninety-nine because that's the year,' she whispered, when she saw him looking, 'then your surname, then your first initial.'

'Thanks,' Kevin whispered back, and he typed in _99riverak_.

'The password is "password",' said the librarian. 'Type it in, and then to change it you have to right click on the menu icon, then...'

Her voice became a blur before Kevin had even logged in. He stared blankly at his screen until Lucy leaned over, clicked a few things and brought up a field that demanded his current password, new password and confirmation of new password.

'She says five to seven letters,' Lucy whispered.

'Thanks,' Kevin whispered back, and typed in P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D, then B-U-F-F-Y twice.

'Log off and then on again,' whispered Lucy, 'to make sure it's worked. Then you have to save a Word document.'

'What do I have to write in it?' asked Kevin.

Lucy shrugged. 'Anything.'

Kevin logged out, logged in, opened Word 98 and typed _Anything_. Then he saved the document.

'Good!' the librarian barked behind him, making him jump. 'That seems to have worked. Log off and go to the desk where Mrs Carter will issue your library card.'

* * *

'Thanks, Ninety-Nine-Chan-L,' grinned Kevin, as he and Lucy exited the library. 'Sorry – I forgot your real name.'

'Lucy,' said Lucy. 'And you're Kevin, right?'

Before Kevin could reply, Michael had stepped between him and Lucy, pushing Kevin to one side to make room for himself.

'I saw you in there!' he said. 'Can't even set yourself up on the computer without a girl to help you.'

'I told you not to push me,' said Kevin. 'And by the way, there's nothing wrong with being helped by a girl, or anyone.'

'What's your problem, anyway?' added Lucy.

'Your boyfriend's been coming onto my girlfriend,' Michael told her.

'Oh, don't be so paranoid,' said Lucy. Then she barged past Michael, looped her arm through Kevin's and dragged him off down the corridor.

'Your girlfriend won't always be there to save you, Rivera!' Michael called after him.

'This place is ridiculous!' said Kevin. 'That guy's got it in for me for no reason, I can't follow a word that librarian says and do you have _any_ idea where we're going? This place is huge!'

'Don't worry about it,' said Lucy. 'I got a good sense of direction. Let's stick together today, shall we? You don't seem to know anybody else in homeroom, and neither do I.'

'Everyone from my old school seemed to go with that beefy gym teacher,' said Kevin.

'Then we'll be homeroom buddies. If you don't mind hanging out with a girl, that is.'

'Hey, man, I'm no sexist.'

'I'm happy to hear it.'

* * *

Beth was hunched over a sewing machine, running some striped fabric through it with an intense look of concentration on her face, when Carl came in wearing boxer shorts and pulling a T-shirt over his head.

'That looks great, honey,' he said, when his head emerged from the T-shirt, so that he was standing in his complete men's pyjamas.

'No it doesn't,' said Beth. 'What a mess! My pattern matching is off, and I think I've used the wrong kind of stitch on the hem. How long before I can pick up Kevin?'

'Still a few hours,' said Carl. 'I'm going to bed.'

'Oh,' said Beth, stopping the sewing machine and looking up eagerly. 'Do you want me to, um...?'

'Well,' said Carl, 'I'm pretty tired. Maybe another time. I mean, _definitely_ another time...'

'Absolutely,' Beth smiled at him. 'Do you need anything before you go?'

'Actually, yeah. I won't be able to sleep until I run something by you.'

'Sure, hon. What is it?'

'I've been thinking about this a lot,' said Carl, 'but I got the impression earlier that you didn't want me to do it.'

'Do what?'

'What Dad did... you know... get my shield and everything.'

'You mean become a detective?' said Beth.

'Yes. But if you don't want me to...'

'Oh, honey, listen – I want you to do whatever makes you happy. I mean sure, I'd worry about you, but I worry about you anyway. I've been worrying about carjackers the whole time I was sewing this thing together. That doesn't mean I'm going to stand in the way of you doing what you want.'

'Really?' said Carl. 'Are you sure?'

'Of course,' said Beth. 'You were sure to want a change sometime. Everyone does, don't they? I mean, I sometimes wonder if I could... I don't know... do something. I seem to have too much time on my hands, now Kevin's getting so grown-up and independent.'

'What would you like to do?' asked Carl.

'Oh, I don't know. Right now I'd settle for getting this shirt so I'm happy with it.'

'Maybe you should stop if it isn't fun.'

'No, I'm enjoying it,' said Beth, returning her attention to the sewing machine. 'Maybe I'll even try to sew something else tomorrow.'

* * *

'Aw man,' Kevin said to Lucy, as they traipsed into homeroom, the clock on the wall now reading one p.m. 'They call that lunch?'

'You should've gotten there sooner,' said Lucy. 'Mine wasn't so bad.'

'You must've gotten there before they started letting the ninth graders push in,' said Kevin. 'You seem to be finding today a lot easier than I am.'

'Don't worry,' Lucy smiled at him. 'You'll be fine.'

'All right, settle down,' said Miss Ortega, sweeping into the room with a few of the students' projects in her arms. 'Places, everyone. I've been reading some of your projects over the lunch period. Kevin, I thought yours was excellent. I'm giving you a merit.'

Nearly everyone in the classroom reacted, with sounds either of jealousy or derision. Kevin sat rigid in his chair, looking embarrassed, as Miss Ortega gave him his project and a square of blue card.

'I haven't read all of them yet,' said Miss Ortega. 'I'm sure a lot more people will get a merit for their projects. Here you go, Stephanie – good try.'

Stephanie scowled, first at whatever Miss Ortega had written on her project, and then at Kevin.

'All right,' said Miss Ortega, returning to the front of the class. 'All I have to do now is give you a few things to take home to your parents, so you can talk amongst yourselves while I hand them out. Make sure you know where you're going for your classes this afternoon, and do _not_ leave without your letters and consent forms. You should all have one for your extracurricular class, the Little Canada trip and the human development class.'

'That means sex ed., right?' Ella called from the back of the room.

'Yes, Ella, it does,' said Miss Ortega. 'Now, keep your voices quiet for the next few minutes, please.'

Lucy scooted closer to Kevin's desk, and said, 'So who was your project about?'

' _Mi abuelo_... sorry... my grandfather,' said Kevin.

Lucy grinned at him. ' _Ngóh mìhng_.'

'What was that – Japanese or something?'

'It was Cantonese.'

'Oh... sorry.'

'Don't be sorry,' said Lucy.

' _Hablas español?_ ' someone said sharply, just behind Kevin, making him jump out of his skin. It was Miss Ortega. She came to the front of his desk to gaze inquiringly down at him.

'Well... not very much,' said Kevin.

' _Un poco?_ '

'Um... _sí._ '

'We have an excellent languages programme here,' Miss Ortega went on. 'Students don't take a language as standard, of course, but you might have noticed that your extracurricular options include Spanish, French, German _and_ Mandarin. If you took Spanish, we wouldn't put you with the complete beginners. If there are enough seventh graders who already speak a little, we'll put you together, or if not we can put you with the eighth grade class. If you started Spanish now, Kevin, you'd be fluent in no time. Alejandro's thinking of doing it. ALEJANDRO!' she yelled across the room. 'Come and talk to Kevin about taking extracurricular Spanish!'

The boy who was sitting in the far corner got meekly out of his seat and came to join Kevin. He perched on the edge of his desk, smiled bashfully and said, 'It's Jandro.'

'Hi, Jandro,' said Kevin. 'So, um... what exactly are we supposed to say to each other?'

'Kevin,' said Lucy, 'do you _want_ to take Spanish? Don't let Miss Ortega pressure you into it.'

'I was already thinking about it, actually,' said Kevin. 'But... I'm not sure.'

'How much can you speak already?' asked Jandro.

'Well...' Kevin considered. 'I don't exactly know. I mean, it sometimes turns out I know more than I think I do.'

'I'm the same way,' said Jandro. 'Mom speaks a lot of Spanish to Abue, but my dad doesn't understand much so we mostly just speak English at home. I've sometimes thought about learning more, and Miss Ortega says if I start now, I'll be fluent in no time. How about you?'

'Me?' Kevin said awkwardly. 'Well, see, my dad... I mean, we don't really speak Spanish at home either. But I've picked up a little from visiting in Cozumel, and from my uncle.'

'Your name's Rivera, right?' said Jandro. 'By any chance, are your dad and your uncle a cop and a Ghostbuster?'

'Yeah. How do you know that?'

'I met them both last _Día de Muertos_.'

'Ugh,' said Kevin, putting his head in his hands. 'Don't _talk_ to me about _Día de Muertos_!'

'Um, okay,' said Jandro.

'I don't know about this,' said Kevin, searching among his pieces of paper until he found the one about extracurricular classes. 'Would we have to learn with Miss Ortega?'

'Probably not – she's a music teacher,' said Jandro.

'She is?'

'That's what it says on the teacher list in those planners she gave us.'

'Don't you like Miss Ortega?' asked Lucy.

'I'll tell you later,' said Kevin, glancing up at the teacher's desk, where Miss Ortega was scribbling all over someone's project.

'What extracurricular class are you taking, Lucy?' asked Jandro.

'I don't know,' said Lucy. 'I'll talk about it with my parents later.'

'Oh yeah?' said Jandro. 'You're not gonna let them pressure you, are you?'

'Of course not!' Lucy said defensively. 'I'll decide right now what to do, if you want, and then I'll tell them: _this_ is what I'm doing!'

'You don't have to do that for me, _cúmbila_ ,' Jandro grinned.

Lucy looked at Kevin. 'What'd he just call me?'

'Pal, buddy, something like that,' said Kevin. 'Right, Jandro?'

'Right,' said Jandro.


	2. Chapter 2

When the end of the day came, Kevin stepped out of the school gates with a distinct look of relief on his face.

'There's my mom,' Lucy said to him. 'See you tomorrow, Kev.'

'Bye, Luce.'

Kevin looked around, and quickly spotted Beth's car in the queue of waiting parents. He took a step towards it, but stopped when a girl's voice yelled 'KEVIN!' and he was suddenly blinded by something soft landing over his head and face. When he removed the something, he saw that it was his jacket.

'Thanks for the loan,' said Ella, punching his arm rather hard as she walked past him.

'Stay away from my girlfriend,' added Michael, who was right behind her.

Kevin sighed deeply, tucked his jacket over his arm and made for Beth's car.

'What's all this?' he asked as he climbed in and noticed a large spread of papers on the back seat.

'Sewing patterns,' said Beth. 'So, honey, how was it?'

'I hate it – I don't ever wanna go back!'

'Oh, sweetheart. It's always difficult to go through a change, but you'll soon get used to it. Did you make any friends today?'

'Yeah, one or two,' Kevin admitted. 'By the way, I've got some stuff for you or Dad to sign.'

'I'll do it, honey – Dad's asleep now until after you're in bed.'

'Oh, yeah, of course he is,' said Kevin. 'So I guess I can't talk to him about my extracurricular class.'

'Well, maybe you can. Do you want to?'

'No, not really.'

* * *

When the sun was beginning to set, Eduardo left his apartment and saw Kevin sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Looking worried by this, Eduardo hurried to descend and sit down beside his nephew.

'Are you okay?' he asked.

'Yeah, fine,' said Kevin, hastily folding over a sheet of paper he'd been looking at. 'I just need to think, and I can't do it in the house. Have you _heard_ Mom's sewing machine?'

'Your mom has a sewing machine?'

'Turns out she does, yeah.'

'Do you wanna tell me what you're thinking about?'

'Sure. I have to pick an extracurricular class, and give this form to Miss Ortega tomorrow.'

'I always thought extracurricular classes were asking too much,' said Eduardo. 'Curricular, okay, I'll give 'em that. But _extra-_ curricular?'

'Mom just signed the form and told me to pick whatever I wanted,' said Kevin.

'Good for her. Is there anything I can do to help?'

'No thanks. There's this one class I'm thinking of taking, but I know what you'll say if I tell you.'

'Listen, man,' said Eduardo. 'Whatever I'd think about this class ain't important. You do whatever makes you happy... or as happy as you _can_ be in school. I mean, it's junior high – that form doesn't have stuff like drugs or gang-bangs or nothing, right?'

'Right,' said Kevin. 'Although there _is_ a separate form for sex education.'

'Oh. Fun.'

'Yeah.'

'Listen,' said Eduardo, 'if you want to know about anything they won't teach you in school, and you don't want to ask your parents, you know you can always come to me.'

'Sure,' said Kevin. 'I do that anyway. So, what was junior high like for you?'

'Just like the rest of school, I guess,' said Eduardo. 'I mean, I never liked it much. I used to cut class and get in trouble and stuff like that. Maybe you shouldn't be asking me about it.'

'I guess not, if I wanna slip through without really being noticed.'

'Well, you can do that. Just keep your head down and do the stupid homework, and you'll be fine. And you know what's really good for getting through a week at school? Having something to look forward to. Like, _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ is out next week.'

'Oh yeah,' said Kevin, his face brightening. 'I wonder if it'll be as good as _Chamber of Secrets_.'

'We'll soon know,' said Eduardo. 'And it can't be too long 'til there's a new season of _Buffy_ , right?'

'I think it's starting in October. And _Angel_ – I wonder if that'll be any good.'

'We'll find out. And if they're really airing back-to-back, that'll make Buffy Night twice as long.'

'Um,' said Kevin. 'Are we still having Buffy Night?'

'What do you mean?' said Eduardo. 'Why wouldn't we have Buffy Night?'

'Well, because you're... you know... busy.'

'I am?'

'With Kylie and... stuff.'

'That doesn't mean I don't have time for Buffy.'

Kevin giggled. 'Are you sure about that?'

'Behave,' said Eduardo. 'Anyway, it definitely doesn't mean I don't have time for _you_. We still had Buffy Night when me and Kylie first started going out, didn't we?'

'Well, yeah,' said Kevin, 'but that was just the last few episodes. I thought you were humouring me.'

'No way, man! Look, Kylie will understand – Tuesday night is Buffy Night.'

'Awesome. Hey, you know what I read? They're bringing back Spike as a regular character.'

'Oh, cool,' said Eduardo. 'But what the hell are they gonna do with him? Is he just gonna keep trying to kill Buffy and stuff? I mean, they can't find excuses for them to team up every week.'

'We'll find out,' said Kevin. 'But hadn't you better go now? You'll be late for your date... or wherever you're going.'

'You're right,' said Eduardo, getting to his feet. 'And you pick whichever class you want, okay?'

'Okay, Uncle Eduardo.'

Eduardo clapped Kevin on the shoulder, and then went on his way. Kevin took a pen from his pocket, unfolded his piece of paper, leaned it on his knee and made a mark.

* * *

Looking distinctly happier than he had done when he first started school, Kevin walked out of a side building with Jandro just behind him.

' _Me gusta el señor Gomez,_ ' said Jandro.

' _Él es un maestro mejor que la señorita Ortega,_ ' said Kevin.

Jandro giggled. 'This is so cool! Those eighth graders have nothing on us! We'll have to really wow them with this presentation thing next week.'

'Confuse the _infierno_ out of them, you mean,' grinned Kevin. 'They won't understand a word we're saying! You wanna come to my house tomorrow to work on it? I bet Eduardo would like to see you again.'

'He might, I guess,' said Jandro, 'but I had a lot more to do with your dad.'

'Well, he'll be asleep. He's working nights.'

'That's probably for the best. I got the feeling he didn't really like me.'

'Oh, I'm sure that's not it. He just makes a bad first impression. Anyway, you won't see him.'

'Does he know you're taking Spanish?' asked Jandro.

'Why do you ask that?' said Kevin, startled.

'Well, it's just... I met him. Anyway, look, it's none of my business – and I'd better go queue for lunch so I can at least _try_ to get some of the good stuff.'

'There's good stuff?'

'Sometimes,' laughed Jandro. ' _Adiós, amigo_.'

'See you later, dude.'

Jandro went on his way, and Kevin went to sit on the benches overlooking the sports field. He walked past Martin and Phoebe, who were talking earnestly over some pages on a clipboard; he walked past Catherine and Stephanie, who were sucking on brightly coloured Baby Bottle Pops and had their heads bent over an equally bright, very thin paperback; then eventually he settled himself in a secluded spot, where he produced from his school bag a sandwich and a half-read copy of _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_.

Kevin had finished his sandwich by the time someone came and whisked the book out of his hand.

'Hey!' said Kevin, making a snatch for it. Then he relaxed his attitude when he saw that it was Lucy. 'Oh, it's you. Hi. I was afraid it was Michael or some jerk like that.'

'Michael's pretty much left you alone since that first day, hasn't he?' said Lucy, sitting down beside Kevin and handing him the book.

'Yes,' said Kevin, 'for some reason.'

'It's because you're at least as big and strong as he is, and you showed you weren't afraid of him.'

'Yeah, I guess,' said Kevin. 'Look, no offence, but do you mind if I just finish this chapter?'

'Yes I do,' said Lucy, 'because whenever you finish a chapter of that, you always wanna read another one. I mean, God, it only came out yesterday and you're halfway through already! It can't seriously be that good.'

'You should read it and find out,' said Kevin.

'I don't know,' said Lucy. 'I read the first one, and I didn't like it much.'

'What?' Kevin was horrified. 'Why not?'

'Well, I thought it was pretty interesting to start off with, but then it went downhill after they got to Hogwarts. I mean, leaving the Invisibility Cloak behind out of carelessness so they can get caught is lazy writing, and so is Hagrid giving Harry a flute for Christmas just for the plot – I mean, why the hell would he want a _flute_ , man? And the ending didn't really make much sense. Oh, and the rules of Quidditch... _God_! Harry has to get a different ball than everybody else!'

'Well,' said Kevin, 'you're entitled to an opinion, even if it's wrong.'

Lucy laughed. 'Yeah?'

'Yeah. Although, I have to admit, I kind of agree with you about Quidditch. Not that there's anything wrong with the whole concept of the Snitch, but a hundred and fifty points is way too –'

'Give that _back_!' a voice squealed behind him.

Lucy and Kevin both looked round, and saw that Michael was standing over Catherine and Stephanie, holding their book out of their reach and sneering at it.

'What the hell is this?' he said. ' _Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Salem's Tails_? Jeez, this stuff is for little kids! I mean, come on!'

Martin and Phoebe were already on their feet, and advancing threateningly towards Michael.

'Michael Conway!' Phoebe declared importantly. 'Give those girls their book immediately, or else!'

'Or else what?' sneered Michael.

'Or else I'll be forced to give you a citation.'

Michael laughed.

'This is no laughing matter, Michael,' said Martin. 'We have that power.'

'You narks don't have any power over me!' said Michael, stepping menacingly towards them.

'Oh my gosh, Kevin, you have to do something!' said Lucy.

'Why do _I_ have to do something?' said Kevin.

'Because you're the only one Michael's afraid of!'

' _What_? What are you basing _that_ on?'

'Well... nothing, really,' said Lucy.

'You're sort of right, though,' said Kevin. 'I can't just stand by and let this happen.' He ascended the benches to the scene of the crime, looking very unsure of himself, and said, 'Michael, don't be a jerk, okay?'

'Stay out of this, Rivera,' said Michael, who now had Martin by the collar.

'Make him!' Lucy said boldly, her head popping up from behind Kevin's shoulder.

Kevin swung round to face her. 'Lucy!'

'Well,' said Lucy, 'he knows he can't take you.' She looked at Michael. 'Right, Michael?'

Michael hesitated for a moment and looked at Kevin, who was not that much bigger than he was and visibly less confident. Then he shrugged, and said, 'Maybe, maybe not. But he doesn't _want_ to fight me – do you, wuss?'

'We prefer the term "pacifist",' said Kevin. 'Look, maybe we could settle this some other way.'

'Like what?' said Michael.

'Um,' said Kevin. 'Arm-wrestling? I mean, that's sort of like fighting, but safer.'

At last, Michael looked interested. 'I'm pretty good at arm-wrestling.'

'Um, okay, cool,' said Kevin. 'I'll arm-wrestle you for the _Sabrina_ book.'

'Hey!' said Catherine.

Kevin looked at her apologetically. 'If I lose, I'll buy you a replacement.'

'Martin,' said Phoebe. 'Can we allow this?'

'Um... I guess,' said Martin, 'so long as they don't hurt each other. Let's agree on a safety word. Seriously, you guys, if you're about to get your arm broken say, um...'

'Quidditch,' said Lucy.

'Well, we can't arm-wrestle on these benches,' said Kevin. 'Let's find a table.'

* * *

Some minutes later, Kevin and Michael were facing each other across a picnic table, both perspiring visibly as they pushed against each other's hands. Lucy, Stephanie, Martin and Phoebe looked on anxiously. At one point, Phoebe leaned close to Martin and said, 'We shouldn't have let them.'

'Yeah, well, what else were we supposed to do about Michael?' said Martin. 'You can't stop a guy like that with a piece of paper.'

'Come on, the one who isn't Michael!' yelled Stephanie.

Lucy frowned at her. 'Kevin. His name is Kevin.'

Stephanie shrugged. 'Whatever. Ooh, look, he's winning!'

Lucy looked, and saw that Kevin was indeed winning. Michael's struggle showed in his face as Kevin forced his opponent's hand down onto the table.

'All right,' Michael said breathlessly. 'You win. They can have their stupid book. Where is it?'

'Catherine already took it while you guys were distracted,' said Stephanie, then she turned and went off to find her friend.

'Mike!' a voice said sharply, and Michael turned to see Ella standing a few feet away with her hands on her hips. 'Were you stealing some stupid bubble-headed book from those stupid bubble-headed girls?'

'Um, yeah,' Michael admitted.

'I told you I don't like it when you're just a jerk for no reason,' said Ella. 'Sometimes I seriously think about breaking up with you.'

'No, Ella, wait!' cried Michael, jumping up to follow her as she stalked off. 'I... I was stealing it for you! You like _Sabrina_ , right?'

'You know,' said Kevin, rubbing his sore hand, 'Ella's not so bad. Let's find her the next time Michael does something like this, otherwise everyone'll want me to arm-wrestle him.'

'Kevin, that was amazing!' said Lucy, giving him a hug.

'What I don't get,' said Martin, 'is why you kids can't just enjoy being kids while you can. Aren't you a little young to have boyfriends and girlfriends?'

'Right,' said Phoebe. 'Don't grow up too fast, guys.'

'Why are you telling _us_?' said Lucy. 'We're not a couple.'

'You're not?' said Martin.

'We're friends,' said Kevin.

'Seriously?' said Phoebe. 'A boy and a girl who are friends in seventh grade? That's... unusual.'

'Well, maybe it shouldn't be,' said Kevin, picking up his bag and rummaging around inside. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to finish my chapter of _Harry Potter_ before lunch period is over.'

Martin and Phoebe, looking sobered, retired to a respectful distance. Kevin opened his book, took a deep, cleansing breath... and then the bell sounded.

* * *

It was dark, and Carl was in the process of patting down a very tall gentleman in very low-slung trousers on the side of the road.

'Arms out to the sides, please,' said Carl, in a professional monotone. 'That's right. What's this?'

'That's my penis,' the gentleman told him.

'Oh,' said Carl, hastily withdrawing his hand. 'Sorry about that.'

'That's all right,' the man said amicably.

'Okay, you can put your arms down,' said Carl, stepping away from him. 'I can see you're not carrying anything illegal, and I'm happy to see you have a clean licence, but I'm going to have to write you a ticket for speeding. Here,' he said, hastily scribbling, tearing and handing the ticket to the man. 'You just get that seen to as soon as you can. On your way now, sir.'

'G'night, Officer,' the man said, climbing into his car.

When the man had driven away, Carl allowed himself a moment to face away from the road and facepalm. Then he shook his pen, tried it in his notebook, felt about his person for a replacement, and found none. Really fuming now, he got onto his motorcycle and drove off.

He went home, clearly intending to make it a quick visit, as he left the front door open when he went inside. He made his way to a small home office at the back of the house, turned on the light and began scrabbling among the stationery that was strewn all over the desk.

'Kid leaves this place in such a damn mess...' he muttered, then suddenly he stopped scrabbling when something caught his eye. It was a yellow exercise book, open on a page with that day's date written in Spanish – _Viernes 10a septiembre 1999_ – and neatly underlined. Carl picked up the book and read on, his face becoming more furious with every word.

When he'd seen enough, he stormed out of the room and up the stairs, made a fist and held it menacingly in front of Kevin's door. Then he froze, dropped his arm, and finally made his way back downstairs. He was still carrying the exercise book when he marched out of the front door and up Eduardo's stairs. Here, he unleashed the full power of fist on door.

Eduardo appeared doing up his trousers and wearing nothing on his top half. He closed the door behind him, saying, 'Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what time it is?'

'Just what the hell do you call this, huh?' said Carl, thrusting the yellow exercise book at Eduardo.

With a sigh of resignation, Eduardo opened the door a crack, reached in and switched on the porch light. Then he closed the door and looked at the book.

' _Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our presentation on turtles of the sea_ – um – _sea turtles_ ,' Eduardo read, though the script was of course written in Spanish. _'They are a beautiful but endangered species_... No way! Did Kevin write this? This is incredible!'

'He had help,' Carl said darkly, jabbing his forefinger at a name in amongst the words of the presentation. 'Just who the hell is Jandro, huh?'

'Oh, right, he was here earlier,' said Eduardo. 'If you really wanna know, he's that kid we –'

'This is your doing, isn't it?'

'What? Carlos, I'm kind of in the middle of something here. Can we talk about it tomorrow?'

'No, we can talk about it now! You made him do this, didn't you? Since when do kids learn another language in seventh grade, anyway? If I'd known what kind of school it was...'

'Carlos, just listen to yourself for a second,' said Eduardo. 'And if you still have to yell at someone about how smart and open-minded your son is, can you please go to the school in the morning or something? I didn't even know he was taking this class.'

'You expect me to believe that?' said Carl.

'Yeah, I do.'

With that, Eduardo turned to open his door, but Carl grabbed his naked shoulder and held him back.

'Take your hand off me, Carlos.'

'We're not done talking about this!'

'Yes we are! You can't make me say what you want me to by holding onto me until I do. And you're not really mad enough to hit me, are you?'

'I _never_ hit you,' said Carl.

'I know,' said Eduardo, shaking his brother off his shoulder. 'Don't start now.'

'All right, fine,' said Carl. 'Get back to enjoying your stupid student fling, if that's all you care about.'

'Just promise me something, Carlos,' said Eduardo, handing back the school exercise book. 'Don't get mad at Kevin about this.'

Carl didn't answer. Eduardo went back into his apartment, closing the door firmly behind him, and the porch light went out. Carl turned and stalked down the stairs, but stopped short when he found Beth at the bottom. His demeanour became suddenly cowed.

'You idiot!' she said, standing there in her women's pyjamas with her arms folded across her chest. 'What the hell is wrong with you?'

'Not now, Beth,' said Carl. 'I'm supposed to be working.'

'Then what the hell are you even doing here?'

'My, um... my pen ran out of ink.'

'You're just a... I don't even have the words!' said Beth.

'Oh yeah?' said Carl. 'Well, I'm not too happy with you either. What the hell are you doing signing Kevin's forms without me, huh?'

'Is that really what you're upset about, Carl? Or is it the fact that our son _wanted_ me to sign his form without you knowing anything about it?'

'You should go back to bed, Beth. You're waking up the whole street.'

* * *

Eduardo was getting a shoulder-rub from Kylie when they heard Beth yelling, 'HYPOCRITE!'

'Wow,' said Eduardo. 'I've never known her to get so mad.'

'DID YOU EVEN TAKE A GODDAMN PEN?' Beth's voice yelled, to the accompaniment of a receding motorcycle roar.

'Why isn't she mad all the time?' said Kylie. 'Her husband's a psycho.'

'Sometimes, yeah,' said Eduardo.

'I was seconds away from going out there.'

'Is that why you put on my shirt?'

'Well, I like wearing it anyway,' said Kylie. 'But yes, I was thinking I'd better cover up. I wasn't about to let him hurt you.'

'Yeah?' said Eduardo. 'You think you could beat him in a fight?'

'To protect you I could.'

'He's not ever really gonna hurt me, Ky. Or anyone. Not physically, anyway. But if he keeps on the way he was just now... Aw, man – why am I even still thinking about it? Where were we?'

Eduardo turned round on the bed and pulled Kylie into his arms.

'Are you sure you still want to?' she asked gently. 'I mean, he got you pretty riled up.'

'Absolutely no way in a million years could he get me _that_ riled up,' said Eduardo, and kissed her. 'I love you way more than I'm mad at him.'

'Wow,' said Kylie. 'You must love me a lot.'

'You know I do.'

'I love you a lot too, sweetie,' and she went on kissing him.

* * *

The next morning, Kevin went downstairs to find Beth with an almost-finished baby's romper suit on her lap, stabbing herself with a needle whilst attempting to thread it and saying, 'Ow... ow...'

'Um... hi, Mom,' Kevin said, a little awkwardly. 'Look, do you mind if I ask...?'

'Ask me anything you want, hon,' said Beth, her tone sounding much less inviting than her words.

'What was all the yelling about last night?'

'Your dad found your Spanish project, honey,' said Beth, her tone softening as she looked up at him.

'Oh my gosh!' said Kevin. 'How? He was supposed to be working! I was gonna check it this morning and then put it away before he got home! What am I gonna do? He'll be here in a few minutes!'

'Kevin, calm down,' Beth said anxiously. 'You're not afraid of him, are you? Sweetheart, he's not happy, but there isn't going to be very much he can do about it.'

'I guess,' said Kevin. 'I'm just not looking forward to the conversation, that's all. Did I hear him yelling at Eduardo?'

'I'm afraid so,' Beth said grimly. 'But I think it means he got most of it off his chest last night.'

'Oh,' said Kevin. 'Well, that's something. Um, Mom...' He looked suspiciously at the romper suit. 'You're not pregnant, are you?'

'Ha!' said Beth. 'Definitely not. Ow.'

Kevin watched his mother stab herself a few more times, then turned in the doorway and went to find some breakfast.


End file.
